


Carnivals Are For Suckers

by coagulationary



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Eremin Week II, M/M, cute babies doing cute things and eren being an awkward derp, day 2: summer episode, in which everybody is ooc oops
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-19
Updated: 2014-05-19
Packaged: 2018-01-25 18:40:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,704
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1658477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coagulationary/pseuds/coagulationary
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>First dates are always scary. For Eren Jaeger, his perfect plan to impress Armin suddenly takes a turn for the worst when their romantic summer evening at the carnival turns into a disaster.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Carnivals Are For Suckers

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: In which both of them are incredibly OOC but I don't give a shit I tRIED OKAY MY HEADCANON IS THAT EREN IS SUPER AWKWARD BUT NOT AS AWKWARD AS JEAN BECAUSE NOBODY IS AS AWKWARD AS JEAN I'M NOT EVEN AS AWKWARD AS JEAN.
> 
> So I tried drawing something for Day 2 in AP Psych and it didn't work because I can't art so I'm writing instead. This was actually a prompt I thought of yesterday when I was doing the domestic tag on Tumblr and boom it fit today's theme so I figured I'd give it a shot. Enjoy the stupid boyfriends being stupid boyfriends.

_Calm...calm...no, you're not calm, you're definitely not calm. Balls, it's not outside._

It wasn't unusual for the heat of the summer sun to beat any less ferociously in the evening despite its departure into slumber and the arrival of dusk, but on this particular day it was unusually hot. Very, very hot; a peculiar kind of hot. Eren had been standing in the peculiar sun for two hours now, the underarms of his shit freshly stained with nervousness and his back dripping with sticky perspiration. The sun had begun to dip behind the horizon and the blinking lights of venders and rides began to flicker with life. It couldn't be that much longer, Eren thought. Maybe he as having car troubles. Maybe he had stood him up. God he hoped he hadn't stood him up.

_He'll be here...I know he will._

Through careful consideration and awkward hormonal teenage outbursts that cockblocked his every move, Eren had finally worked up the nerve to ask Armin Arlert out on a date. But it wasn't he date, he said, it was a "friendly gathering that may or may not involve possibly hand holding and the sharing of nachos". God he was such an hopelessly awkward fuck. The latter had approached the blond earlier that day, his head already swimming in a pool of nerves and palms unnaturally sweaty. "Hi," he said. Armin said hello. "There's a carnival tonight," he sputtered out. Armin nodded. Wow he was cute. It was driving Eren up a wall, those blue eyes that swam with the ocean's current and pretty golden hair that created a halo around his head in the sunlight. His shorts that weren't _too_ short, but they were definitely short enough to leave him telling his horny imagination to shut the hell up half the nights he lie awake in hormonal rage. "You want to go to it tonight. Like. With me, maybe?" "Like a date?" "Well not a date, per se, just two good friends hanging out at the pier. I mean, it can be a date if you want it to be, but if not that's totally fine too. I mean, it's whatever you want it to be," _God I'm so stupid._ Armin stopped him from completely tripping over his words by simply smiling and agreeing to their little rendezvous, as he called it, and promise to meet him at the pier at seven o' clock that night.

It was already seven o' one and there was no sign of him.

_He'll be here...I know he will._

Eren was starting to grow impatient, waiting outside in the blazing heat. It felt like a swamp- hot and muggy and so thick he could almost taste the humidity. He felt like if he spent anymore time in the sun he's surely melt, that was hot he perceived it. Either that, or the heat was due to the ridiculous amount of emotions running about in his head. Probably both. The second one more than the first.

He checked his watch once more, his heel clicking nervously against the dock of the pier. Maybe he got confused and went to a different location? Highly unlikely, as there was only one tiny pier in their tiny town and the annual carnival was kind of a big deal to everybody. If you didn't go to the carnival, people wouldn't speak to you until you experienced it. That was just how it worked.

Just then, the latter felt footsteps padding against the wooden planks of the dock. His attention immediately shifted into focus, his head snapping up as he watched a blond angel come straight toward him with a nervous smile on his face.

"Hi Eren," Armin said, meeting Eren in the middle. "Sorry I'm late, Grandfather wouldn't let me off work until six forty-five . I hope I didn't make you wait too long."

Eren's heartbeat sped up. His palms began to sweat, and this time he knew it wasn't because of the muggy summer hair. How was it even possible for someone to be so damn cute?

"It's fine, Armin. Should we, uh...go get tickets or something? I-I mean, only if you want to. We can stay here if you want," Eren stuttered. Since when did he _stutter?_ He looked like a fool.

Armin giggled. Do boys _giggle_ , Eren thought. I was definitely a giggle.

"Eren, you don't have to be nervous," he told him kindly. "I'm fine with whatever you want to do."

"Yeah, sure, I totally get that." He paused. "You look nice. You look good in flannel, I mean you look good every day, but the blue really makes your eyes pop and--oh God I'm so sorry I sound like an idiot, should I start over?" He held out his hand. "Hi, my name is Eren Jaeger, and we're going to have fun at the carnival. Because I planned that it would be fun. Carnivals are supposed to fun, right? I think carnivals are supposed to be fun."

He was dying out there and he knew it.

Surprisingly, Armin flashed him a kind smile and let Eren lead the way to the ticket booth.

_Stay calm...don't let him smell your fear smart people can smell fear. Oh jeez I hope--_

"Eren? Is everything alright? You look a little flushed," Armin asked as soon as they bought their tickets and began to wander the vast--except not so vast--area of the carnival grounds that hadn't already been littered with trash and vomit. How could people consider this fun? _  
_

Eren only grew hotter. "Oh, no, it's fine Armin. It's just really hot outside, is all."

"Are you sure? If you want we can go another day--"

"I'M NOT CONTAGIOUS I PROMISE."

People were staring now, children with balloon not even daring to blink as their mothers pulled them away from the crazy stranger. Eren felt like he was about to cry. "Oh jeez, I didn't mean it like that," He said ashamed. "I'm not sick. See, I could step in a pile of vomit and it wouldn't matter."

Armin blinked, looked down, and then blinked again. "Eren...you are stepping in vomit."

A horrified Eren lifted his foot only to see fresh vomit and dirt caked between the ridges of his shoes, still at a liquified and oozing stage. It took all he could muster not to add anymore to the pile.

"Fuck," he hissed, scraping his shoe against the hard ground. It only collected more dirt, a variety of colors smeared across the bottom of his shoes. "You know what, I'm just going to take them off."

"Eren, I don't think that's a very good idea," Armin pondered.

Eren shrugged. "It's better than having vomit on your shoes." He tossed the soiled shoes in a patch of grass, a group of seagulls flocking to it for an evening snack. The latter turned toward the fair, now buzzing with people. "Come on, I'll buy you some cotton candy or something."

Armin hesitated, his eyes growing a bit then falling to the ground in a bashful shift. "Actually, I'm allergic to sugar," he said sheepish, and Eren ticked an eyebrow at that.

"Allergic to sugar? Is that even possible?"

"It's not that uncommon."

"So...do you have diabetes or something?"

"No, I don't have diabetes," Armin laughed, but Eren could sense he was uncomfortable. This was terrible. "Maybe we could go play some games or something?"

Eren blinked first, then nodded. His socks were beginning to coat the white cotton a nice shade of brown. "Yeah, we can do that."

So they did. It seemed like a good idea, right? Carnivals are meant to have games to win, or at least every carnival Eren had ever been to did. He used to go with Mikasa all the time when they were younger, before the nostalgic atmosphere of the carnival slowly began to diminish as they entered adolescence.

The two decided with the rings first, as it was the only stand that wasn't already packed with sugar-high children.

Then Eren had an idea.

"Armin, I'm going to win you that bunny up there," he said proudly, pointing to a fluffy pink bunny plush with giant pink irises sitting on the top shelf of the prize counter.

"You don't have to do that, Eren. If you win you should be the one to get the prize."

"No, I insisted," Eren pursued. "I brought you here to have a good time and I'm going to win you that bunny even it kills me."

It turned out that Eren didn't die after playing the win the bunny until his pockets had run dry, each time failing to succeed landing one ring around a milk bottle. As the last ring hit the side of the bottle with a loud _clank_ and fell to the ground along with Eren's hopes and dream, he couldn't have felt more ashamed.

"Here, let me try," Armin pipped up after seeing the shame in Eren's eyes, placing a few crumpled up dollar bills onto the counter and asking for some rings to throw.

And every single time he threw those damn rings, it corkscrewed down the side of the bottle every single fucking time.

The blond gave a nervous laugh. "Beginner's luck, I guess."

It ended up that Armin did get the bunny, but it wasn't from Eren.

_I am the biggest loser._

"Well, I'm all out of money," Eren blurted suddenly, refusing to look at Armin. "What are we going to do now?"

Armin pondered. "I don't think I have enough money to play anymore games, so...I guess we could get some food or something before we go."

A flashing light caught his eye, a cluster of bright colors spinning slowly in the most impeccable form. Swings squeaked as it halted to a stop, a group of carnival goers squealing as they ran off to enjoy the rest of the carnival. He smiled. "Or we could go on the Ferris Wheel. I think it's free."

Eren turned to him. "Are you sure?"

He nodded. "It looks like it could be fun. You're not afraid of heights, right?"

Eren wasn't afraid of heights, as it turned out, but right now he was pretty sure that was a spur of acrophobia creeping upward from the hell-spawn that had created this disastrous night. "No, I'm not afraid of heights."

_Play it cool. Don't suddenly fear heights just because you're with a cute guy, Eren. You can do this._

Armin flashed a toothy grin. Have mercy he was so fucking cute. "Great! You can pick whatever side you want."

Why did it matter what side of the Ferris Wheel he picked to sit on? Was there a side that made the vertigo seem less intense and a side that made you feel like you were flying? Eren had never been on a Ferris Wheel before, and as he cautiously took a seat next to Eren as the pulled the seat protector in front of their torsos he had already begun to regret his decision.

"Wow, you can see the entire ocean from here," Armin gasped, leaning over in his seat to get a better view, eyes wide with excitement. Meanwhile, Eren was not so excited.

_Don't look down...don't look down._

Of course, he looked down. Fuck they were high up. Eren's stomach clenched with anxiety.

"Armin," he squeaked. "Does the air seem a little thin to you up here?"

Armin turned to him, a huge smile on his face as he swung his legs over the edge of their seats. "No, why? I thought you weren't afraid of heights, Eren."

"I'm not, it's just--"

And then it hit him. Like a brick coming toward him that crushed every fiber of dignity he had managed to scrounge up after tonight, a sudden outburst of previously dormant acrophobia came at him like a wrecking ball of fear.

_Fuck._

"Armin, I-I think we should get down from this," he uttered, his knees beginning to visibly shake as they dangled from the seat. He felt like he was losing air.

"Why, the ride has just started."

Armin didn't notice why his friend wanted so desperate to get down from the ride until he heard a sort of wheezing coming from next him, turning to see that the latter was hyperventilating. "Oh my God, Eren, you're having a panic attack."

"No I'm not." Precisely at the moment Eren sucked in a desperate gasp for air.

Armin, look around frantically and realizing he had nothing to use to help him breathe being a hundred feet in the air, also began to panic.

"Eren, you need to calm down. Take some deep breaths and try not to think about it," He soothed, he own voice rattling.

"I'm trying, man, it's not really working too well."

"I thought you said your weren't afraid of heights."

"I'm not!"

I have to think quickly, Armin thought, looking for something, anything, to calm the other down. There was nothing.

"Okay Eren, you have to listen to me," he pressed, shifting closer to him. "We don't have anything you can breathe into so you're just going to have to listen to my voice and forget about your surroundings."

Eren swallowed hard. "I-I don't think I can do it, Armin."

"Yes you can, I know you can. The ride is halfway over."

"Halfway over" it was not, as at the precise moment as the two reached the peak of the ride, their seats suddenly jerked to a halt. Riders began to whisper in question, looking around to see what the problem was, and Eren's heart practically stood still in his chest. A loud voice came over the speakers not long after.

"Attention everyone. The Ferris Wheel is currently having some maintenance trouble. Please stay in your seats as we observe the disruption, the ride will be starting again shortly. We apologize for the inconvenience."

Eren toward the horizon, the sun finally taking its last breath of the day before receding behind the endless ocean, stars littering the dusty gray sky. This could not be happened.

Finally, that hormonal teenage rage was back once again. "ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!"

"Eren--"

"No, it's not okay, Armin! It's not fucking okay!"

He pointed toward the ground, the people from below moving around like scattered ants. "We are at the top of a _fucking_ Ferris Wheel!"

"Eren, you need to calm down. You're only getting yourself more worked up," Armin said, reaching out to place a hand on Eren's shoulder only to have is slapped away.

"No I'm not going to _calm down_!" He was beyond angry. "This night was supposed to be perfect! I was supposed to plan something super nice for you because you deserve it, and what, you get this? Hanging around with a kid with vomit shoes who can't throw to save his life and has sudden outbursts of fear? Really, Armin!"

Suddenly, Armin went quiet, turning away from Eren as he fiddled with his thumbs. Even in the darkness is was apparent he was blushing.

"Is that why you've been so worked up tonight," he asked quietly, still looking toward his thumbs.

Eren let out a heavy sigh. "I guess. I just wanted you to have a good time because you're a really nice guy and--"

Before he could say anymore, Eren was cut off by something warm and fleshy suddenly pressed against his lips, and he noticed Armin had shifted from his original spot.

Armin was kissing him.

Armin was _kissing_ him.

It was brief and quick, chaste, Eren fluttering his eyes closed for only a second before Armin pulled away, looking at him with concern swimming around in those pretty-ass blue eyes.

"Eren, I'm having a wonderful time. This is the most fun I've had all summer. You don't have to be afraid."

The Ferris Wheel still stood still in the night, but the two leaned in once more until they were kissing again, and they stayed like that until the ride had started to circulate again, Eren's encompassing Armin in his arms and Armin's fingers pressed to his scalp.

Suddenly, Eren wasn't afraid anymore.

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: I'm really stupid I'm sorry this is so cheesy and cliche I'm sorry..  
> I was also eating while I was writing this so  
> I apologize for giving the persona of Jean I didn't even notice it until after I had finished writing oops.


End file.
